Tomorrow, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case brought by an extremely sexy appellant - the former stripper and Playmate of the Year, Anna Nicole Smith.

Anna Nicole Smith, born Vickie Lynn Hogan in Mexia, Texas, met oil entrepreneur J. Howard Marshall II when she was working at an upscale strip club in Houston. She was 26 and he was 89 when they got married. He died 14 months later, leaving an estate that has been estimated at $1.6 billion.

Marshall's youngest son, E. Pierce Marshall, who is 67, has been battling her for the money for 11 years. The case has been through a succession of courtrooms, starting with a state probate court jury in Houston, which ruled in 2001 that Marshall did not leave any of his estate to Smith. A federal bankruptcy judge sided with the Playmate, another federal judge reduced the award, and a federal appeals court ruled that federal courts should never have gotten involved. So, it looks like the case involving the inheritance of Anna Nicole Smith from her octogenarian husband was extremely difficult to solve.

Howard Marshall II built his fortune over 40 years in the oil business. He showered his wife with $6.6 million in gifts that included two homes, $2.8 million in jewelry and $700,000 in clothes, and she contends that he also promised her half of his estate.

However, Pierce Marshall said various wills and trusts his father had prepared over the years named him the sole heir. "For Anna Nicole Smith, it's pure, simple greed," said Pierce Marshall's spokesman, David Margulies. "I don't think anybody thinks she was in love with J. Howard." At the same time, Smith's appellate attorney, Kent Richland, said his client was the victim in this case.